Nursing bottle

ABSTRACT

A baby nursing bottle having inner and outer nipples each connected through special valving means to opposite ends of the nursing bottle so as to permit an adequate flow of milk irrespective of the position of the bottle. The special valving means comprise small flexible flaps disposed in the direction of flow of fluid. Similar valve means are incorporated into the outer nipple in a position to allow air to enter into the bottle to replace the displaced milk.

United States Patent [151 3,704,803 Ponder 1 Dec. 5, 1972 [54] NURSING BOTTLE 2,742,168 4/1956 Panetti ..215/1l D [72] Inventor: Charles L. Ponder, 94 Concordia, 3,441,160 4/1969 Levy .215/11 R St. Paul, Minn. 55104 Primary Examiner-Donald F. Norton Attorney-Robert M. Dunning 57 ABSTRACT A baby nursing bottle having inner and outer nipples each connected through special valving means to opposite ends of the nursing bottle so as to permit an adequate flow of milk irrespective of the position of the bottle. The special valving means comprise small flexible flaps disposed in the direction of flow of fluid. Similar valve means are incorporated into the outer nipple in a position to allow air to enter into the bottle to replace the displaced milk.

5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDnEc 5:912

INVENTOR CHARLES L. PONDER BY jam;

ATTORNEY NURSING BOTTLE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It has long been a desirable objective in the prior art to manufacture a baby bottle from which nursing could take place irrespective of the position of the bottle. An excellent example of such a bottle is shown in US. Pat. No. 3,247,360 issued Apr. l9, I966 to the instant inventor. The invention disclosed in the above referenced patent achieves a multiple position feeding bottle by utilizing two nipples one of which is in communication with the top of the bottle and the other of which is in communication with the bottom of the bottle by means of a long flexible tube. Suitable valves are provided to insure flow of the fluid only from the bottle into the nipple. The present invention constitutes a signiflcant improvement over the apparatus shown in the above referenced patent.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION One of the problems of the prior art invention lies in the use of ball check valves which are complicated and expensive to manufacture and occasionally erratic in operation. The present invention improves on the valve configuration by substituting therefore a special new type of flexible molded valve in which a pair of flaps are disposed against each other and inclined in the preferred direction of fluid flow so as to readily allow the passage of the milk from the bottle into the nipples but which close off instantly in response to any reverse flow. Another improvement resides in the provisionof an additional valving ball which operates under the influence of gravity to block off the flow of fluid to one nipple while the other nipple passage ways are being utilized. This will be explained in greater detail below. Another improvement involves the addition of valves as described earlier to the outside nipple designed to permit the entrance of air into the bottle but prevent any escape of milk therefrom. In this way a negative pressure cannot be built up inside of thebottle due to the continual evacuation of milk. Still another improvement that will become apparent upon consideration of the present invention is that most of the parts have been combined and simplified so that a minimum number of components is necessary in order to construct the invention. Whereas the invention of the above referenced patent incorporated a large thermometer into the sidewall of the bottle to indicate the temperature of the milk the present invention incorporates a small circular thermometer which does not occupy as much space. The prior art invention also used an extended tube which had to be jointed at the center so that the tip of the feed tube would rest at the bottom of the bottle in order to reach all the milk. The present invention however, simplifys this construction by providing a flexible tube with a weight at the end thus eliminating the necessity of a special joint in the middle. It thus may be seen that it is an object of the present invention to provide a much improved baby nursing bottle operable to effectively feed milk regardless of the position of the bottle and to continue to do so at a steady rate by allowing air to enter the bottle to compensate for the displaced milk. Further objects and advantages will become apparent upon consideration of the following description anddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OFTHE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front view of the nursing bottle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the bottle of FIG. 1 showing the relative positions of the air admission valve holes.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the baby bottle of FIG. I said section being taken through a vertical line generally in the center of the bottle of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged detail of a portion of thevalve section of the apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT j In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 front and top views of the baby bottle of the present invention are shown. It maybe seen that a bottle 10 is provided with threads so that it may be closed at its lower end by a cap 16 and at its upper end by a cap 12. Cap 12 extends up and terminates as a nipple 20 having a small milk exit hole 23 therein. Cap 12 has a pair of air admission holes 21 and 22 which have suitable one way valves disposed therein which will be described in detail with respect to FIG. 3. In FIG. 1 it will also be noticed that cap 12 may have ridges or grooves 14 to provide a better grip for threading and unthreading cap 12 from bottle 10. Bottle 10 is provided with a generally flat area 17 in order to facilitate the mounting of a small circular thermometer 18 in the side of bottle 10 to permit measurement of the milk temperature inside the bottle.

A detailed understanding of the operation of the present invention may be had by reference to the sectional drawing of FIG. 3..In FIG. 3 it may better be seen how nipple 20 is molded all in one piece with cap 12 and provided with threads 24 so as to be threadable onto the top of bottle 10. Air admission holes 21 and 22 are provided with a pair of one way valves formed as small flaps 30 which are angled inward and against each other in the direction of preferred flow. If any vacuum developes inside bottle 10 due to the evacuation of milk air can easily push flaps 30 aside and enter the bottle so as to prevent an unbalanced pressure situation. However, any tendency of fluid or milk to flow out of the bottle through these holes pushes flaps 30 tightly together locking the fluid inside the bottle. Similar valves are used for the remainder of the operation of the nursing bottle as will be indicated hereinafter. These flap valves are made of a flexible plastic material or rubber material and have been found to be inexpensive, easy to manufacture, and most effective.

An inner nipple 32 is mounted on the top of a one piece valve and flexible tube construction 34. Tube 34 extends to the lower end of bottle 10 where a weight 36, provided with a suitable flap valve -38, is attached. Flexible tube 34 is flexible enough to permit weight 36 to pull the bottom of tube 34 to whichever wall of botbe pumped up through tube 34 out of nipple 32 into nipple 20 and then out of hole 23. it will be noticed that the top portion of tube 34 is molded to include a pair of flap valves 40 and 42 so that when the bottle is inverted and the milk is no longer accessible to entrance 37 in tube 34, nipple 20 can pump milk through one way valves 40 and 42 directly out hole 23 without the necessity of using inner nipple 32. in this inverted position a small ball 50 inside tube 34 will operate under the influence of gravity to close off a small passageway 35 at the top of tube 34 so that no pressure can be relieved through tube 34. Without ball 50, air would simply enter through air admission holes 21 and 22 and pass into the non-immersed opening 37 of tube 34 and through nipple 32. With the addition of the small ball check valve 50 however, bottle can be provided with vacuum relief air admission holes without disturbing its operation. Thus in the inverted position milk is drawn through valves 40 and 42. in the upright position milk is drawn through valve 38. Air can be admitted to the bottle at any time to relieve any accumulated vacuum therein and if the bottle is inverted the air is prevented from flowing through tube 34 by means of a ball check valve 50. Thus it may be seen that my invention is much improved over that of the prior art accomplishing many objectives heretofore unachievable. In addition, the construction of my invention is simple and economical. For example, valves 40 and 42 are molded all in one single operation as a portion of flexible tube 34 and the mount for nipple 32. Small pressure grooves 60 are provided around valve 40 and 42 so that the entire assembly can simply be pressure fitted up into a socket in cap 12. Of course this is only one arrangement of many possible constructions and therefore I do not intend to be limited to the particular design and arrangement shown except as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A nursing bottle having a first nipple secured to one end, said first nipple having first valve means therein operable to admit air into said bottle but prevent the exit of fluid from said bottle, said first nipple further having second valve means between the interior of said bottle and said first nipple so as to allow the passage of fluid from said bottle into but not out of said first nipple and also including a second. nipple secured inside said first nipple, said second nipple connected to the interior of said bottle by means of a passageway through said second valve means and through a flexible tube extending to the other end of the bottle, said passageway having third valve means therein operable to pass fluid in one direction only from the interior of said bottle into said second nipple, the compression of said nipples operating to suck fluid from said bottle through said second and said third valve means depending on the position of the bottle.

2. The nursing bottle of claim 1 in which said first, second, and third valve means each comprise a pair of flexible flaps disposed against each other in the preferred direction so as to be movable in response to fluid pressure in one direction only.

3. The bottle of claim 2 including a weight at the end of said flexible tube so as to keep the end of said tube at the lowest oint in the bottle.

4. The ottle of claim 3 including a ball in said passageway, said passageway narrowing near the second nipple, so that said ball blocks the flow of fluid to said second nipple when the bottle is inverted.

5. The bottle of claim 4 including a thermometer mounted in the side of the bottle. 

1. A nursing bottle having a first nipple secured to one end, said first nipple having first valve means therein operable to admit air into said bottle but prevent the exit of fluid from said bottle, said first nipple further having second valve means between the interior of said bottle and said first nipple so as to allow the passage of fluid from said bottle into but not out of said first nipple and also including a second nipple secured inside said first nipple, said second nipple connected to the interior of said bottle by means of a passageway through said second valve means and through a flexible tube extending to the other end of the bottle, said passageway having third valve means therein operable to pass fluid in one direction only from the interior of said bottle into said second nipple, the compression of said nipples operating to suck fluid from said bottle through said second and said third valve means depending on the position of the bottle.
 2. The nursing bottle of claim 1 in which said first, second, and third valve means each comprise a pair of flexible flaps disposed against each other in the preferred direction so as to be movable in response to fluid pressure in one direction only.
 3. The bottle of claim 2 including a weight at the end of said flexible tube so as to keep the end of said tube at the lowest point in the bottle.
 4. The bottle of claim 3 including a ball in said passageway, said passageway narrowing near the second nipple, so that said ball blocks the flow of fluid to said second nipple when the bottle is inverted.
 5. The bottle of claim 4 including a thermometer mounted in the side of the bottle. 